


The Ermendrud Affair

by Pippin



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Investigations, Journalism, Newspapers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-05-13 07:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19246618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippin/pseuds/Pippin
Summary: When Trent Ikithon is arrested in an abuse scandal, more questions than answers remain about his missing student.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is very heavily inspired by Red Rabbits from the aftg fandom.

**Archmage of Civil Influence Arrested in Abuse Scandal**

_Beauregard Lionett_

Trent Ikithon, the Archmage of Civil Influence for the Cerberus Assembly in the Dwendalian Empire, has been arrested, along with two others, following allegations of abuse from an anonymous source.

Ikithon, 72, has been seated with the Assembly for nearly fifty years, having been appointed to his position at age 26.  In addition to his role with the Assembly, Ikithon is also involved with the Soltryce Academy, the center of magical learning within the Empire.

However, Ikithon abused both these roles, drawing students from the Academy to live at his personal estate outside Rexxentrum and train directly under him.  He currently has two proteges, powerful mages known only as Astrid and Eodwulf, no last names listed.  It is possible that this is an attempt to anonymize the pair, or it could be an attempt to separate them from their past (notes that imply the latter have been found in the estate).  Both members of the pair are fiercely loyal to Ikithon, and current information suggests that they have been studying under him for the past fifteen or more years.

Both Astrid and Eodwulf, now in their early thirties, are being charged with multiple counts of murder, although given the current knowledge, a case exists for brainwashing and manipulation.

“We have sufficient cause to believe that Ikithon was manipulating his students through the use of powerful magics,” says Dairon, a monk of the Cobalt Soul who headed the investigation into Ikithon.  “Not to mention the clear signs of torture and notes on human experimentation.”

Dairon also says that there are mentions of a third student, although the fate of this individual is, at this time, unknown. 

If you have any information on this case, please contact us at [themightytimes@gmail.com](mailto:themightytimes@gmail.com).  Thank you in advance.

 

_Beauregard Lionett is a staff writer for The Mighty Times.  She can be reached at @BeauregardLion1 on Twitter._


	2. Chapter 2

Beauregard had her feet up on her desk in her tiny corner office when Fjord knocked on the open door frame and stuck his head in.

“We’re having a staff meeting in five,” he told her before disappearing again.

Beau groaned, putting her feet down and sitting up straight.  She grabbed her phone and looked through her nonexistent Twitter notifications before heading down to the conference room.

 _The Mighty Times_ was a small company, a handful of people crammed into a far-too-small space publishing online for lack of any money to publish in print.  They barely brought in enough to keep the lights on, and it was more a labor of love than anything else.  According to their website traffic barely five hundred people read their work, hardly enough to bother keeping up with it, but they did it out of love.  They all worked other jobs, the _Times_ really being their side gig, for as much as they loved it.

Unsurprisingly, the conference room was mostly empty.  Fjord was probably still making the rounds to make sure everyone knew about and attended the meeting.  The only person already there besides Beau herself was Yasha, their travel correspondent.

Beau fell into the seat beside Yasha, reaching for one of the pastries Jester had brought in that day from her main job at the bakery.  It was something with raspberry and was very good.

The next to show up was their quiet and reserved researcher and newest member of the team, Caleb.  His cat twined its way around his feet; no matter how often Fjord complained about allergies he couldn’t bring himself to forbid the man from bringing the cat to the office.  The animal was registered as emotional support; Beau had seen the letter from Caleb’s therapist when she was helping Fjord do the paperwork for their new hire.

Beau straightened up at seeing Caleb.  “Anything new?” she asked as soon as he had sat down.

Caleb looked alarmed at being addressed.  “Sorry?  Ah, no.  I assume you mean on the Ikithon case?”  His voice got quiet and he buried his hands in the fur of the cat who had jumped into his lap.  “No, nothing on that.”

There was something about the way Caleb had reacted to the case as a whole that made Beau suspect he had abuse in his own past.  After all, the case set Beau on edge in much the same way, although she showed it in a very different way.

Before Beau could try and question Caleb—not that she thought it would go anywhere, but she didn’t deserve to call herself an investigative journalist if she didn’t at least _try_ —the tieflings came in, a flurry of color and loud, excited voices.  There was Jester, their advice columnist and supplier of pastries, draping herself over Caleb to grab some sort of Danish.  And Mollymauk was immediately drawn to Yasha, his best friend at least since they’d been hired, shuffling his tarot cards and holding them out to her.  Beau barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes.  Molly was all about the occult, tarot cards and horoscopes and what-have-you.  That was the role he filled at the _Times_ , and from Beau understood, it was also the way he made his actual living.  Beau didn’t get it, but whatever.

Yasha drew a card, but Beau tuned out Molly’s explanation, turning her attention instead to Caduceus as he entered the room, dipping his head to fit though the doorway.  The firbolg was too tall for most spaces in Zadash, a city largely designed and built by humans.  Caduceus filled an odd spot in an already odd group, taking the dual position of both writing general gardening advice and providing obituaries from the funeral home he ran with his family.

Nott and Fjord arrived at the same time, the last people necessary to start their meeting.  Fjord was the editor-in-chief of the _Times_ ; Nott was…something.  She sort of did what she wanted, but she was good with Caleb, which was enough reason to keep her on.

As soon as Fjord was in the room, he called the meeting to order.  Or, well, as much order as was ever possible, which really wasn’t much.

“Our main focus is the Ikithon case,” he said, looking around at the motley group.  “I know that’s not everyone’s specialty, and we’ll still publish the usual, but I want to stay on top of this.  As far as I’ve seen, no one else is focusing on finding the missing student, and if we can break that story, we’ll have a chance to actually make it big.”

Beau glanced around at the rest of the staff.  No one seemed to be as invested as Fjord was.  Jester was picking at her pastry, Molly was shuffling his cards, Caleb looked generally alarmed, Nott was drinking, Caduceus seemed invested in his tea.

Fjord sighed.  “This could be our big break.  Does _anyone_ have anything?  Beau, I know you’re doing a lot.  Anyone else?  Caleb?”

Caleb glanced up at Fjord, eyes huge.  “Uh, no.”  He twisted his hands in his cat’s fur and sighed.  “They, uh, they hid things well.  I’m still doing some digging, but all I have is what they released to the public.”  His voice was soft, and Beau was even more sure that someone had hurt Caleb.

Fjord frowned but didn’t say anything, meeting eyes with Beau instead.  “Anything on your front?”

Beau shrugged.  “Dairon’s got a little here and there.  Some people have reached out to me, too.  A former Soltryce Academy professor who is digging into student records for me, a reporter from the Blumenthal Times.  She wondered if Astrid and Eodwulf would be able to be state’s evidence, serve as witnesses.  My only concern with that is the extent of their brainwashing and the chance that deprogramming could, to put it bluntly, break them.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Beau noticed Caleb tense slightly and his cat nuzzle against his stomach, but she ignored it.  There would be time later to interrogate Caleb.

* * *

Sparring with Dairon was always immensely satisfying, and the information Beau got from her mentor was almost as much so.

“We have more of Ikithon’s journals,” Dairon said, sweeping Beau’s leg out from under her.  “Nothing new about this third student you’re looking for.  Are you sure they exist?”

Beau scrambled to her feet and threw a punch.  “Who else could the A and E Ikithon mentioned be but Astrid and Eodwulf?  And if that’s the case, someone has to exist for B as well.  The question is just, _who_?”

* * *

Caleb’s apartment was small and spartan, only the overflowing bookshelf and messy desk indicating that anyone lived there at all.  For the moment, however, both inhabitants of the apartment, man and cat, were curled on the ratty bed, one shaking apart as the other did his best to purr up a storm and make his master feel better.

“What am I going to do, Frumpkin?” Caleb whispered between shallow, hyperventilating breaths, burying his face in Frumpkin’s fur, then drawing back and spitting loose pieces of fur from his mouth.

Frumpkin, for his part, didn’t reply, just purred harder, nuzzling against Caleb.  He was very good at his job as a therapy animal.

“Beauregard is a good researcher in her own right; she will find anything that I try to hide.  And she said she has a contact at the Academy, and another in Blumenthal.  All the more chances to find me.  And she certainly suspects _something_.”

Caleb choked on a sob.  “I’ve been running from my past for so long; I can’t let it catch up to me now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge shoutout to everyone who has interacted with the email and the twitter; it's been so fun!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: both the email address for the paper and Beau's twitter handle are active! As I said at the top, this is very heavily inspired by a fic called Red Rabbits, which is a cross-platform piece for the All For the Game book series. Any emails or tweets may show up in the series! I'm definitely encouraging audience participation--I can make this work without it, but it would be so much more fun with. I'm hoping to hear from you!!


End file.
